Three rookies are set to make their race debuts and Azarbaijan will make it's Formula One debut even as Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg pose to challenge odds on favourite Lewis Hamilton.
World No 3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, current World Cup winner Levon Aronian and India number two Harikrishna shared the lead with two points apiece.
International Master D Harika is the second Indian girl to emerge Junior World champion. Koneru Humpy won the crown in 2001.
He became the first Indian pugilist to qualify for next year's Beijing Olympics after he defeated European silver medallist Shahin Imranov to advance to the quarter-finals of the World Boxing Championships in Chicago.
World chess champion Viswanathan Anand asserted his supremacy at the Morelia-Linares tournament for the second time on the trot after settling for a facile draw with Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the 14th and final round in Linares. Anand ended this category-21 tournament with 8.5 points and finished a half point clear of nearest rival Magnus Carlsen of Norway who played a draw with Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan in his last game.
It is the diamond in Africa and Russia that is dazzling India these days. India is planning joint ventures with diamond mining companies across Russia, Africa and the CIS nations.
World champion Viswanathan Anand split points with Russian Vladimir Kramnik in the 13th and final round to share the third spot in Group A at the end of the Corus International Chess tournament on Monday.
Unable to break through the solid defenses of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, World Champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by the Azerbaijani in the second round of the Group 'A' of Corus International Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee.
Rude defeats for World champion Viswanthan Anand and fellow Grandmaster Koneru Humpy summed up a pathetic day for the Indians in the first round of Corus Chess tournament.
Grandmaster P Harikrishna was held to a draw by GM Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan in the fifth round of the 50th edition of Reggio Emilia International Chess tournament in Italy.
Grandmaster P Harikrishna got the better of David Navara's defence and tamed the Czech to leapfrog to the lead after the fourth round of the 50th Reggio Emilia Chess tournament.
International Master Martin Breutigam, a longtime contributor to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, accused Topalov of soliciting help from his manager Silvio Danailov through gestures and signals during some of the games.
The France-Austria-Britain sequence of races poses a fresh logistical challenge for teams hitherto committed only to back-to-back weekends, with the 21-round season hurrying to the halfway point.
Assured of an Olympic berth, Indian boxer Vikas Krishan (75kg) settled for a bronze medal in the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) World Qualifying Tournament.
Three Indians, including World Boxing Council (WBC) Asian title-holder Neeraj Goyat, have registered for the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) Olympic Qualifying tournament for professional boxers scheduled to be held in Venezuela from July 3 to 8.
Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Asian Games champion Vikas Krishan (75kg) qualified for the Rio Olympics after advancing to the semi-finals of the AIBA World qualifying tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday.
He flew to Dubai from Kerala on Febraury 23, bought a cycle, took a ship to the port city of Bandar Abbas, the capital of Hormozgan province on the southern coast of Iran, before embarking on his cycling odyssey to Russia.
World champion Viswanathan Anand thumped Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine in the blindfold and won his sixth round game 1.5-0.5 in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament in Nice. With five rounds still to go, Levon Aronian of Armenia is at the top of the combined points table on 7.5 while Anand is now close behind with seven points in his kitty.
The Indian Grandmaster beat Shakriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the seventh round, in the Mtel Masters chess tournament.
Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton said he still has "the utmost respect" for Formula One title rival Sebastian Vettel after accepting a public apology from the Ferrari driver on Thursday.
Indian pugilists put up their best ever performance at the World Cadet Boxing Championships, clinching two golds and a silver.
India's Prakash Nanjappa has earned a quota place for the 2016 Rio Olympics after finishing eighth in the finals of 50-metre men's pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Gabala, Azerbaijan.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Saba Anjum's goal gave the hosts a 1-0 victory over Azerbaijan in the final of the four-nation tournament in Delhi.
Krishnan Sasikiran faces a tie-break in the Chess World Cup after his draw in the second game of his match against Russian Vadim Zvjaginsev.
India's Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw against Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia in the sixth round to remain static in third spot in the 10th Tal Memorial Chess tournament, in Moscow.
Ian Nepomniachtchi was declared winner of the World Youth Star chess tournament after finishing joint-first with Negi, Rauf Mamedov and Zaven Andriasian.
The Indian ace beat International Master Safarli Eltaz of Azerbaijan in the eight round of the World Youth Stars chess tournament to move to second place.
Despite the draw the Indian Grandmaster held joint-lead with Zaven Andriasian of Armenia after the sixth round in the World Youth Stars International chess tournament.
Lakshaya and Kismat Chopra along with Manavaditya Singh Rathore on Thursday bagged the team bronze in the Men's Trap event as India ended their campaign at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup with a total of 24 medals to grab the second place in the overall standings. India finished with a total of nine gold, five silver and 10 bronze medals as the year's second and final Junior World Cup concluded in Gabala, Azerbaijan.
In India the female homicide rate in 2016 was 2.8 per cent, higher than the rate in Kenya (2.6), Tanzania (2.5), Azerbaijan (1.8), Jordan (0.8) and Tajikistan (0.4).
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Levon Aronian, Veselin Topalov and Teimour Radjabov jointly won the Category-19 Corus Chess tournament.
The draw kept Teimour Radjabov in sole lead, on 5.5 points out of a possible seven, while Anand inched to 4.5 points, in the Corus chess tournament.
The victory took the Indian ace to joint-second in the Corus chess tournament, behind, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan.
Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw against Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in the first round of the Corus Chess tournament.
Speaking exclusively to Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com, the Haryana-based wrestler shed light on the latest reports of Asgarov testing positive and Sakshi Malik's bronze medal feat at the Rio Olympics.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with black against local star Anish Giri but slipped to joint second spot after the sixth round of Tata Steel Chess tournament, in Wijk Aan Zee, on Saturday.
Dronavalli Harika suffered a setback, losing to top seed Arutyunova Diana of Ukraine in the eighth round of the girls' under-18 event at the World Youth Chess Championships.
Uttar Pradesh accounts for the maxmium dowry deaths -- 11,800 women -- followed by Bihar at 5,992.